


A Friend In You

by sevansa



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Hair Braiding, Homesickness, I feel like Lance and Allura could be great friends tbh, Lance's endless crushes, Nail Polish, generally a feel-good-fic, girl's night but not really?, lance's sorry excuse of a self-esteem
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-16
Updated: 2017-02-16
Packaged: 2018-09-24 23:52:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9792806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sevansa/pseuds/sevansa
Summary: Nothing cures loneliness like a night spent with a friend.//Or the one in which Lance is sad and Allura is there to help. A girl's night is somehow thrown in the mix





	

Missing people is weird, it hits you in the most random of times, and it's never something glaring or piercing, oftentimes it is a profound ache that takes residence below your ribs and stay there, easy to ignore- as long as you have something to do that is-

But in the dead of the night -or what passes as night in the deep space- it's hard to ignore. In the loud silence, the expansive darkness, the endless nebulae all around... there was nothing to distract from the clawing monster in his chest as it digs its claws deeper and burrows further, sliding up to press on his throat and scratch at his eyes.

Sometimes it gets too much. In the sterile cramped rooms, the walls start closing in and the covers turn heavy and not even his specifically prepared playlist is enough to make him well again.

So he wanders and lets his mind wander in turn.

Sometimes, your own mind is your worst enemy...

He finds himself with his back pressed tight to the metal wall, wishing there was a tiny corner he could wedge himself in to... to what? escape? hide? from what? the reality he's living? yeah sounds legit.

He watches the stars and absently searches for familiar shapes or patterns. obviously it doesn't work, they are so far from home now it's almost absurd.

It's weird.

He thinks, as he finds himself tearing up. They're not messy sobs, but a simple stream of silent tears. he gives up trying to dry them after a while and braces himself for a night spent having a good cry.

Mariana, had taught him the value of a good cry a while ago and Lance was always a sucker for what his sisters has to say.

\---

It was Allura who found him. which, okay unexpected, he honestly thought if it came down to it, it would have been Shiro who sought him out. he knew that Shiro patrolled the hallways sometimes at night, often times checking up on them while they sleep.

In a totally non creepy fashion mind you.

But it wasn't him.

The Castle-ship was huge, you'd think it would be easy to find an empty corner to watch the universe go by, apparently not. Not that he minded the company exactly... but he didn't feel up to it right about now.

"Hello Lance." she says as regal as ever, despite the fact that her hair was loose and sort of a mess, and she was dressed in a flowy sleeping gown.

He startles, and tries to subtly dry the tracks on his face, but if her expression was any indication, he haven't done a good job of it.

"Hey Princess." He replies, as casually as he could and curses his voice for coming out as a croak. He gives her another side-eyed glance, before tightening his hold on his knees and staring back at the endless void of space surrounding him.

"I see you've found the observation deck." She says mildly.

"Yeah..." he says again, unsure of where she's going with that train of thought, was he not allowed here or something?

it was truly a spectacular observation deck. it was made of glass all over showing space from every direction, giving the illusion of floating in the void.

"Would you mind if I sat down?" she asks and he shakes his head.

She sits down gracefully, folding her skirts under her. her shoulder's a hair breadth way from his, not touching, but radiating warmth nonetheless.

It was sort of soothing.

They sit in silence for a while, and Lance starts to relax when he realizes that she's not here to scold him or whatever it is that Allura did when she wasn't making them train.

They sat watching the never ending stars as they twinkle and die, lives being lived and lost all around them while they were nothing but tiny specks of cosmic dust. beautiful really, awe-inspiring... it made him realize how insignificant he was. How all their worries and struggle are but blotches in the cosmic balance. Not important, not drastic. Useless.

"The mice told me you've been coming here a lot." Allura broke the silence.

"It's peaceful here." he says, not mentioning the fact that the mice spying on them was a bit weird, but whatever, princess privilege and all.

"It is." there is a smile in her voice. "I used to come here as well, as a child, I would hide away for hours before anyone could find me. I used to think I'm so clever, able to hide from my caretaker when I please. I realized much later that they were the ones who let me get away with it for so long." she says fondly, voice soft and full of wistful memories.

Lance looks at her properly for the first time this night. enraptured by the glimpse of Allura's childhood.

She seems to realize she's got his attention now, because she continues speaking. "It was so different back then, the Castle was never empty, there were ways people moving and talking. even in this time, there'd be guards trading shifts and walking around. sometimes I would sneak away with the cook's daughter Arilla, we used to have so much fun, I would forget all about my responsibilities then, I'd be nothing but a child playing catch with a friend."

"I miss it." she continues, subdued.

And Lance's eyes lowers, suddenly feeling a bit guilty about his insignificant worries when here, there was someone who had lost so much in just a few seconds. it must have been very hard for Allura.

"I miss it," she repeats. " but I'm glad."

He swivels his head to get a better look at her, shocked.

There was a tentative smile on her face.

"At least now, they're all at peace. And I got to meet you and everyone else, my precious paladins." she grins at him.

Lance's cheeks color furiously, and again he is struck by how other-worldly beautiful Allura is, she's all bright skin and gorgeous eyes, regal airs and never ending optimism.

Its daunting, its freeing.

"I miss my family." he admits.

She nods. "I do too." not judging, but understanding.

"I miss having more than six other people around." he says again, feeling guilty for admitting this, when he has such a fantastic group of people surrounding him, when he has people that are so much more than he is.

"I do as well. But, Lance, you are not alone in this. every single one of us must be missing something or someone right about now. The trick is to just... find someone else to fill the gap."

Sometimes he forgets, how much older Allura is, as compared to them.

"So Lance, I know that we haven't started on a good foot. but I would like to get to know you, my paladin, better. Would you like to be friends?" she asks , her hands outstretched, palms up and Lance is shook.

God she makes it sound so simple.

He's thunderstruck by the easy way she spoke, by the easy confidence he could only aspire to acquire, in this very second Lance knew he had fallen in love with Allura just a bit.

Not in a romantic sense. despite all his flirting, he didn't think someone like Allura could look at him, she was a freaking princess for goodness sake. but she was- she was Allura.

There was something inspiring about her, and he couldn't help but fall slightly in love. It was the same feeling he had with Shiro all over again.

He grinned though, he wanted this, he wanted to be close to her; to everyone on the ship, they were after all, his new family.

So he puts his palm in hers and something in her eyes relaxed a bit.

"I would love that, Princess." he says. And in a surprising display of power, she had both him and herself upright with absolutely no sign of any muscle strain. which okay super hot.

"Thank you Lance, that means a lot to me." she says brightly.

And like a drowning man that just had his first breath of fresh air, he drinks it in greedily and smiles back helplessly, endlessly in love with that being of such great magnificence.

That being said, he stands a bit uncomfortable, unsure of what to do now, that is until Allura turns and he almost drowns in a sea of silver fluff, he squawks and almost fall down but quickly regains his balance.

His hand itch.

Seriously, it just moves without his brain telling it to, and is almost halfway through to its intended destination when his brain finally catches up and just stops hanging there, mid-motion.

"Hey Allura?" he asks. Really unsure of how she'd take his request.

She hums and turns to face him. she still looks mighty pleased with herself.

"You wouldn't mind if I braided your hair would you?" he asks tentatively.

He expected a weirded-out look, maybe she'd think he's using her friendship offer to just get close to her or something. But he should have given Allura the benefit of doubt, because suddenly he was bombarded with such an eager grin, so different from the majestic smiles of just seconds ago. And it dawns on him suddenly that as old as Allura is, as Alien as she looks, she is just a young girl trying to fill-in shoes too large for her, trying to lead a group of equally alien people in a war against a race that obliterated her own.

"You know how to braid?" she asks excitedly, and he gets the impression that if she was even an ounce less regal, she would be bouncing in her place.

"Uh yeah! I used to do my kid sisters' hair when I was back home." he says somewhat sheepish.

" That's wonderful! I didn't know you had sisters Lance."

This, this Lance could talk about for hours on hours at end, his sisters were his pride and joy and nothing could take that from him.

"But to answer your question, no I wouldn't mind. you know, let's relocate to my chambers, more access to hair supplies."

Somehow it didn't occur to him that any other time he would be a blushing mess right about now, after all, Allura asking him to her bed chambers was one fantasy that starred in his dreams quite often.

But the night was a weird thing it makes people into different versions of who they are. what happens at night seems to carry less consequences than anything that could happen during the day.

So he nods excitedly, the prospect of a night spent doing nothing but styling hair and talking about his sisters and family seemed to be the perfect cure for his weird night-sickness.

Somewhere along the way, he forgot to feel sad anymore.

___

He'd never been in Allura's room before. It was huge, nothing compared to their cramped Paladin quarters.

As befitting a princess.

Allura disappeared through a doorway after telling Lance to get comfortable, and after a while she emerges back carrying a box with way too many hair ornaments to be normal.

Then he remembers, yeah Princess.

She absently shoves the box at him, while she searches through her room for more supplies.

Lance starts to sift through the box content, setting aside some ornaments he thinks would work well with what he has in mind, some others he can't help but think would look so good on one of his sisters, others he could totally picture his fellow paladins using. he sets those aside too, he could mention it to Allura later, she'd probably get a good laugh out of it.

She fetches a hair brush and gets comfortable on her plush vanity chair, Lance stands behind her, setting the chosen supplies on the grand marble-like table (did they have marble in space?) suddenly feeling self-conscious.

"Tell me about your sisters."

And as if by magic, he relaxes. A grin overtaking his face and almost subconsciously his hands starts carding through her hair, getting used to the weight and texture of it.

" They're great, " he tells her, as he starts moving the brush softly through her hair, working his way upwards softly, he's obviously had a lot of practice. his eyes seem fond.

" Mariana is the oldest, she's a great artist and the one who taught me how to braid hair actually, she's the one who takes care of us when mama's busy, then there's Izzy, oh man, Izzy is just so cool okay? she used to always get into trouble for fighting and stuff ,when I was a kid she was like my role-model, my mama got her into boxing though, so you know, she'd have an excuse to punch the shit out of people-" she doesn't actually know how getting inside boxes would help with fighting, but she nods either way.

"-then there's me, and finally the twins. Luna and Eve. they're identical but Luna has this tiny scar on her chin from when they were still babies. that's how I know how to tell them apart. The both of them are brats though, and they've got us all wrapped around their fingers, they know it too." he sounds wistful now.

And Allura has to open her eyes and look at him. through the mirror they maintain eye-contact "They sound wonderful ,Lance, I would love to meet them." Lance grins at her.

"They'd love you! they'd love everyone on the team to be honest, they already know Hunk though ,and uh I might have talked about Shiro a little? a lot? so they know about him too... come to think of it they might know of keith as well." his voice was getting fainter now, and his face was getting redder by the second. Allura had to suppress a giggle.

"Hey, don't laugh at me princess!" he mock scowls at her and she loses it. He joins her after a beat, and they spend a while just giggling helplessly.

The laughs taper off and they are silent for a while after that, Lance working his magic with her hair, with honestly looks so good now with so many tiny intricate braid intertwining together, she loves it, it also seems to have calmed Lance somewhat, he seems less burdened than before.

She thinks that she might have done something right, as his leader, and friend. It's an unusual method sure, but whatever works.

"Ta-Da! what do you think?" she snaps out of her musing to study his handiwork.

It was... beautiful. he'd somehow styled her hair so that it looked like she had a flower in it, the little braids encircling her head like a crown, and he'd found some tiny blue gems that were now dotting her hair in such an intricate manner. It was absolutely stunning.

"Wow Lance, this is beautiful!" she told him and he preened under her praise. "It's a shame I can't return the favor though." she says eyeing what little hair he has in honest dismay.

Lance colors slightly "Uh.. we could do something else? if you'd like?" his suggestion was more a question than it was an offer.

She hums slightly and gives her vanity a cursory look. her eyes land on her nail varnishes and she gives Lance a predatory look.

\---

So that was how they both found themselves cross legged on her bed, Allura running the tiny brush over Lance's nails, painting them a delicate shade of eggshell blue. The mice had found their way back to her room and were now chasing each other around and generally creating havoc. 

"The color contrasts so well with your skin tone Lance." she compliments.

"Right? I bet it would look great on you too!" he says, no stranger to getting his nails done. granted, it was usually done by his sisters not an Alien Princess, but dude semantics.

They share a look, and okay, Allura had longed for another girl to share nights like those with, and when she figured that Pidge wouldn't be into those things she was a bit disappointed, but well- Somehow everything worked out well.

Yeah it did not work out the way she expected it to, but she found someone to share her love for beauty products, and okay maybe it wasn't a girl's night now per se... but well who was there to judge them? it had gotten Lance out of his funk and somehow He and the princess now had some sort of common ground to bond over.

It was great.

He tells her how brilliant he thinks keith would look would look with the cringy crystal pink heart headband, and while she laughs at first, they spend the rest of the night coming up with schemes to get Keith to wear it.

It was the most fun Allura had in a long while.

\----

It was Coran who found them in the morning.

When the Princess failed to show up in the control room bright and early, he decided to go check on her. He was met with the rather adorable sight of Lance and Allura, both in their sleep clothes, passed out on opposite sides of the bed, between them maelstrom of tiny bottles and swashes of fabrics. Allura's hair was in lopsided braids and somehow Allura managed to add some of her own braids in the short strands of Lance's hair.

Coran laughed softly at that and decided to spare them the embarrassment, instead he set an alarm to sound in ten doboshes.

\---

The morning training found both of them as normal as ever, the only reminders of the great bonding experience of the night they had, was the eggshell blue of lance's nails, the significant looks thrown over the dinner table and the many more nights spent together giggling like children with no care in the world. And if for some reason Lance found it absolutely hilarious that Allura showed up wearing a Pink sparkly headband, no one could really say why.

**Author's Note:**

> I had a mighty need for a Lance and Allura friendship story! so there it is! hope you guys enjoyed it thus far, please leave comments and kudos they will be hoarded and appreciated <3   
> And yes I am totally ignoring the last episode of season 2. no, nothing happened there, Shiro is still with his space-children, where he belongs. What did you guys think of season 2 anyway?  
> -Sevansa


End file.
